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Sunday, October 5, 2014

Grand Prize Winner

One of the stories I failed to mention yesterday was that we entered all four kids into a raffle drawing to win a pedal tractor. The tickets were $1 each and I'm sure the money went to some kind of charity, but I honestly didn't pay any attention. There was a table located in the center of the festival. We walked by several times and each time we passed by we were asked if we wanted to register for a drawing. We declined.

As we were walking towards the van to leave, an eager man stopped us. He said, "Now you got to enter that drawing. There ain't gonna be but maybe 25 kids who enter and you here got four kids. You got a good shot to get you a tractor for them kids." He was sweetly persistent so we agreed to purchase a raffle ticket for Jackson.

As Jesse entered Jackson's information (including his weight), the same man physically pulled me to the side, got out his wallet, and put three dollar bills in my hand. He whispered to me, "Now go ahead and get them babies' tickets, too." I didn't even try to argue him since he was clearly determined for our kids to enter the drawing.

Fast forward to this afternoon around 3:45 p.m. We made plans to bring dinner to our in-laws at 5 o'clock and cuddle with the newest family member. I had just put brownies in the oven when Jesse's phone rang. I could hear the voice on the other end of the phone and I recognized the eager Southern accent. Jesse was laughing and relayed the message, "Maddie is the grand prize winner. We have to pick up the tractor by 5 p.m." The triplets were still in their cribs from a late afternoon nap. Jesse quickly changed diapers and loaded the kids while I prepared the diaper bag and packed up dinner and (uncooked) dessert.

We were greeted by a fervent crowd. Everyone "oohed" and "aahed" over our sweet girl. They all took out their phones to take pictures and video of Maddie. A beautiful man dressed in jeans and a plaid button up shirt told us to buy a trailer so the trio could take turns pulling one another. The entire scene should have been a John Deere advertisement.